A bus powered by cow manure has set a land speed record for a regular bus by driving at 77mph.
Reading Buses' "Bus Hound" was recorded doing a lap speed of 76.785mph (123.57km/h) at Bedford's Millbrook Proving Ground.
It runs on biomethane compressed natural gas and is painted black and white like a Friesian cow. It normally carries passengers around Reading.
The UK Timing Association confirmed the new record.
Reading gas-powered bus attempts record
The vehicle runs on biomethane compressed natural gas
Trevor Duckworth, the association's chief timekeeper, said this was the first time a bus had been on Millbrook Proving Ground and described it as "quite a sight".
The bus is normally speed limited to 56mph (90km/h).
Martijn Gilbert, chief executive of Reading Buses, said it would not be recognised as a Guinness World Record unless it reached speeds above 150mph (241km/h).
'Vulcan bomber'
Chief engineer John Bickerton said the company wanted the "world's first service bus speed record" to bring to light the viability, power and credibility of buses fuelled by cow poo.
"We've laid down a challenge for other bus operators to best our record and we had to make it a bit hard for them.
"Most importantly we wanted to get the image of bus transport away from being dirty, smelly, and slow. We're modern, fast, and at the cutting edge of innovation.
"It was an impressive sight as it swept by on the track. It sounded like a Vulcan bomber - the aerodynamics aren't designed for going 80mph."
Its fuel is made from animal waste which is broken down in a process called anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, which is then liquefied, Mr Gilbert said.
It is stored in seven tanks fixed inside the roof of the bus.
The vehicle's name was inspired by the British Bloodhound super-sonic car which aims to go beyond 1,000mph in 2016.

Click to expand...

It's got me wondering, if a speed test for a bus had ever been set before would this have been beaten? I remember some Leyland Lynxes easily reaching 70mph before.

A bus powered by cow manure has set a land speed record for a regular bus by driving at 77mph.
Reading Buses' "Bus Hound" was recorded doing a lap speed of 76.785mph (123.57km/h) at Bedford's Millbrook Proving Ground.
It runs on biomethane compressed natural gas and is painted black and white like a Friesian cow. It normally carries passengers around Reading.
The UK Timing Association confirmed the new record.
Reading gas-powered bus attempts record
The vehicle runs on biomethane compressed natural gas
Trevor Duckworth, the association's chief timekeeper, said this was the first time a bus had been on Millbrook Proving Ground and described it as "quite a sight".
The bus is normally speed limited to 56mph (90km/h).
Martijn Gilbert, chief executive of Reading Buses, said it would not be recognised as a Guinness World Record unless it reached speeds above 150mph (241km/h).
'Vulcan bomber'
Chief engineer John Bickerton said the company wanted the "world's first service bus speed record" to bring to light the viability, power and credibility of buses fuelled by cow poo.
"We've laid down a challenge for other bus operators to best our record and we had to make it a bit hard for them.
"Most importantly we wanted to get the image of bus transport away from being dirty, smelly, and slow. We're modern, fast, and at the cutting edge of innovation.
"It was an impressive sight as it swept by on the track. It sounded like a Vulcan bomber - the aerodynamics aren't designed for going 80mph."
Its fuel is made from animal waste which is broken down in a process called anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, which is then liquefied, Mr Gilbert said.
It is stored in seven tanks fixed inside the roof of the bus.
The vehicle's name was inspired by the British Bloodhound super-sonic car which aims to go beyond 1,000mph in 2016.

It's got me wondering, if a speed test for a bus had ever been set before would this have been beaten? I remember some Leyland Lynxes easily reaching 70mph before.

Click to expand...

Don't know but in the 1960s, there were reports of Midland Red coaches hitting 80+ mph

I can confirm that a Leyland Tiger fitted with a TL11 and semi-auto gearbox with EL2000 bodywork will comfortably exceed 80mph, and a derestricted Optare Solo M950 (Cummins 5.9 ISB) will get very close to 90mph.

77mph isn't a bad effort, but when coaches used to be designed to do 70mph and were quite capable of exceeding 80 it doesn't seem quite such an achievement.